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Constructed Worlds Wiki:Manual of Style
This article outlines a policy on the Constructed Worlds Wiki. In order to ensure consistency, clarity, and quality on the wiki, the Constructed Worlds Wiki has a manual of style that it strongly recommends users comply with. This Manual of Style should be used alongside to help format articles. Please ask an administrator if you have any questions. Naming articles There are some rules regarding how articles should be named. *Article names should be in singular form, not plural, unless specifically referring to a group (Example: States of Georgeland) *Unless the name of the article contains (or is) a proper noun, none of the words should be capitalized. The name of the article should be bolded in its first usage in an introduction, as should any alternate names mentioned in the intro. These bolded titles should not have links within them. Using the # Do not use the # in a link unless you intend to direct to a section of that article with the title after the # as a section. Headings Use the (heading) markup for headings, not the ' ('bold') markup. Example: : This is a heading which produces: :This is a heading If you mark headings this way, a table of contents is automatically generated from the headings in an article. Sections can be automatically numbered for users with that preference set and words within properly marked headings are given greater weight in searches. Headings also help readers by breaking up the text and outlining the article. *Avoid overuse of sub-headings. *'Never''' use a singular-mark heading (=). Page headings *Articles may have a quote displayed at the top of the page, but not a banner or header image. Usage and spelling Because readers and editors of the Wiki speak and write in many varieties of English, we do not mandate a specific form of English in terms of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word usage. Capitalization of Ranks and Titles A rank or title is to be capitalized if it refers to a person ("The President met with...") or a specific office ("It is the duty of the President to meet with other..."). The rank or title should not be capitalized if it refers to the rank itself ("A meeting of emperors, presidents, and governors..."). Therefore, an example sentence could be: : "It is the duty of the President to meet with other emperors, presidents, and governors, and that is why the President met with these people." In such a sentence, the first "President" refers to the position of the President of a country, the "presidents..." refers to people holding the title of president in general, and the second "President" refers specifically to a specific President of a nation, such as President John Smith. Miscellaneous Grammar Italics Italics should be used to refer to titles of books, movies, pamphlets, plays, stories, works of art, etc., or to a specific ship, airplane, or similar vessel. Apostrophes and Possessives ending in 'S' Nouns ending in 'S' should be made possessive by adding only an apostrophe ("The Beatles' record," "the states' rights"). When nouns end in 'X', editors may add either an apostrophe or an apostrophe-s, but articles must remain consistent throughout. The lead section (also known as the lead, introduction or intro) of an article is the section before the table of contents and the first heading. The lead serves as an introduction to the article and a summary of its most important aspects. The lead should be able to stand alone as a concise overview. It should define the topic, establish context, and summarize the most important points—including any prominent controversies. The notability of the article's subject is usually established in the first few sentences. Apart from trivial basic facts, significant information should not appear in the lead if it is not covered in the remainder of the article. The lead is the first part of the article most people read, and many only read the lead. Consideration should be given to creating interest in reading more of the article, but the lead should not "tease" the reader by hinting at content that follows. Instead, the lead should be written in a clear, accessible style with a neutral point of view. Other Miscellaneous Guidelines When writing an article, write following the following guidelines: *Do not simply create a "timeline" or a "map game". A timeline is only acceptable if the article itself is supposed to be a timeline with links to articles of the listed chronological events. *Do not write the article as an advertisement. *Do not write the article from first person, but third person. Example: Do not write "I then grew ten miles," but "Adaland then grew ten miles." Guidelines of major note These are some other guidelines that help to keep the Constructed Worlds Wiki organized, easy to use, and helpful. *Each page should be placed into at least one relevant category, and preferably into the most specific category of any branch. For example, the page "Ministries of Awesome Land" would only need to go in "Category:Government of Awesome Land," would in turn would be put in "Category:Governments" and "Category:Awesome Land." *Except for proper nouns, headings should not have any word after the first capitalized. They also should not refer redundantly to the page they are on; for example, on a page about John Smith, a section about his life should be headed "Life," not "John Smith's life." Also, headings should not contain links. How to wikify an article # Check for copyright violations. Long segments of text without wikilinks can indicate that the text was illegally copied into Wikipedia. Look for . Instructions for reporting violations are at . # Add wikilinks. Where appropriate, make links to other articles by putting "" and "" on either side of relevant words (see for more information) and check that your links work as expected. # Format the lead. Create or improve the . It should "define the topic, establish context, explain why the subject is interesting or notable, and summarize the most important points". # Arrange layout. Arrange section headings and make sure they are short and concise, in other words, not a sentence. Be sure that any templates are put at the bottom of the article/section where relevant. # Replace HTML tags with wiki markup, where available. Use of HTML tags is discouraged where equivalent wiki markup exists: for example, replace bold text with bold text. However, HTML is permitted where no corresponding wiki markup exists: e.g., H2O for subscripts and for a non-breaking space. See for a useful list of common wikitext and appropriate HTML markup. # Add an infobox if appropriate. Add an infobox if it is appropriate for the article. # Remove the tag. This will remove it from the list of tagged pages. # Save your changes! See also *Help Guide